Southport attacker Axel Rodakubana will likely spend the rest of his life in prison for the murders of three girls.
A teenager who killed three teenage girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport, UK last year has been sentenced to more than 50 years in prison.
Judge Julian Goes said on Thursday that 18-year-old Axel Rodakobana “wanted to attempt the mass murder of innocent, happy girls”.
The judge said he could not impose a life sentence without parole because Rudakubana was under 18 at the time of the crime.
But the judge said he would have to serve at least 52 years before being considered for parole, and “it is likely he will never be released”.
Rudakobana was 17 when he attacked the young children in the coastal town of Southport last July.
He killed three girls – Baby King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice da Silva Aguirre, nine, and injured eight other children as well as two adults.
On Monday, Rudakubana confessed to the murder. He also pleaded guilty to 10 counts of attempted murder, manufacturing a deadly poison resin and possessing al-Qaida training manuals.
The prosecutor said Rudakobana had no political or religious motives, but had a “long-standing passion for violence, murder, genocide”.
Rudakubana was not in court to hear his sentence. Earlier in the trial, he was removed for disruptive behavior.
Riots
After the Rudakobana attack, far-right activists seized on social media to falsely report that the attacker was an asylum seeker who had recently arrived in the UK.
Social media reports sparked weeks of anti-immigrant clashes with police and mobs taking to city streets across Britain to attack minorities and Muslims.
Rodakobana was born in Cardiff, Wales to Christian parents of Rwandan descent. Investigators could not find a motive for his crimes.
In the years leading up to the attack, Rudakubana had been reported to several authorities for his violent interests and actions.
The government has ordered a public inquiry saying there are serious questions to be answered.
“After one of the most harrowing moments in our country’s history, we owe it to these innocent young girls and all the victims to bring about the change they deserve,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said.
